consider'd in his CHAP. III. Whose Title is That KING Henry 8. did not by renouncing the power pretended by the Pope make void the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction neither was it void before it was restored by 1 Edw. 6.2 And to prove this Negative he 's at it again with his old way of Questions but that he shews a little more warmth and wrath against Mr. Hickeringill in this Ironical Sarcasm Pray Mr. Wiseman where and by what words did H. 8. cut off as you say all these ordinary Jurisdictions Mr. Hickeringill told you enough of it in the Naked Truth which read over seriously before you answer any more such Books good Mr. D. D. He told you that when the Popes Supremacy and Head was be-headed and the King made Supreme Head of the Church as well as State and of the Spirituality as well as Temporality by Act of Parliament The same King and Parliament devis'd also and advis'd by what Laws this new face of the Church having got a new head sure it had a new face should be guided and governed Therefore the King and Parliament enact that the King shall appoint Thirty-two Commissioners not to make new Laws but compile them out of the old ones so that they were not repugnant to the Kings Prerogative nor the Laws of the Realm But that was a thing impossible for most of the Canons being forged at Rome or Licensed there and Confirmed and also they supposing the Pope Head of the Church which was against the Laws of this Land nothing could be done and the reason is already given in the former Chapter at large so that less shall need to be said to this Chapter or indeed to the remaining part of his mighty Volume or Leges Angliae And truly that King Henry 8. had so much to do to keep and secure his new acquests the Abby-Lands Monastries c. and to Counterplot the Pope and his Emissaries and on the other side the English Bishops were so consternated at the sudden and total downfal of their Brethren and Sisters the Fryers Abbots and Nuns that they were in a bodily fear lest that King thus flesh't finding the sweetness of the Booty should hunt after more Church-Lands And therefore Mr. Archdeacon needed not ask the Question Was that watchful Prince asleep no surely nor yet the watchful Bishops I fear did not sleep very quietly but were always troubled in their sleep crying out oh this fat Mannor is upon the go And these brave Walks Houses and Orchards are a departing And as dreams sometimes prove unluckily true so did these dreams for soon after was first exchanged with the two Archbishops by the Satute of 37. Henry 8.16 Sixty-nine fat and stately Mannors named in the said Statute at one time from the Archbishop of York and also a great many brave Country-houses and rich Mannors from the Archbishop of Canterbury and from Edmond Bishop of London which See was particularly named in the Statute But some may say that the Abby-Lands which the King gave in exchange were not comparable in value to the said Archbishops Lands and Mannors Who can help that if they did not like those Abby-Lands I suppose they might have let them alone Thus the King having been busied in the 24th year of his Reign with cutting off the Roman Head and all appeals to Rome then troubled with his Abby-Lands beginning with the lesser Monastries 27 Henry 8.28 those digested then the great Monastries and Nunneries 31. Henry 8.13 then the next year the brave Houses Lands and Revenues of the Templers called the Knights of the Rhodes and of St. John of Jerusalem 32. Henry 8.24 then the Free-Chantries Hospitals c. in 37. Henry 8.4 and in this his last year that sad exchange with the Archbishops and Bishop of London 37. Henry 8.16 I do not see any cause Mr. Archdeacon why any flesh alive should say that either the King or the Bishops were asleep for Thirteen years together in which time every one had work enough to be watchful The best on 't is that the man thinks he can answer all Mr. Hickeringill's Arguments in the Naked Truth with a Story which he tells p. 14. and so silly and so little quadrating with the question in controversie that it is not worth the answering nor his observation thereon namely that though the Lords of the Mannors were changed yet the Customs and Courts and Officers were not changed No were not the Customs Courts nor Officers changed God forbid for then it must still be a Custom that neither the Bishop nor the Archdeacon may lawfully Marry it will still be a Custom to excommunicate as it was of old all that did not pay the Pope the first fruits and tenths if the Customs be not changed and a thousand such exceptions could I make if it were not below me to take notice of all his idle and impertinent Whimsies and Stories obvious enough to every learned and ingenuous Reader without my remark or asterisque to expose it Nor does any body deny but that King H. 8. willing to have a Divorce from Queen Katharine from Rome and not able to obtain the same got it at home the said Statute of Appeals cutting off all Appeals to Rome and enabling the Kings Courts Spiritual and Temporal to determine the same Any Forrein Inhibitions Appeals Sentences Summons c. from the See of Rome c. to the Let or Impediment in any wise notwithstanding 24. Henry 8.12 Whence note 1. The design of the Statute is to cut off Appeals to Rome this Realm of England being an Empire of it self governed by one Supreme Head 2. Therefore no need of such Appeals when they may be with less trouble ended here within the Kings Jurisdiction in Courts Spiritual and Temporal 3. That Statute limits the cognisance of all matters cognisable in Spiritual Courts to these Three sorts namely Causes Testamentary Matrimonial or Divorces Tithes and Oblations and Obventions and if they can prove their Courts to be lawful Courts and by lawful Anthority who ever doubted but those Three things were matters and causes of Ecclesiastical cognisance but they are not content to keep themselves there and therefore the great design of the Naked Truth is not in the least to check their proceedings in those Three Particulars but their exorbitances in medling with Church Wardens the Oath of Church-Wardens exactions illegal and unconscionable in their Fees in despight of the Statutes in Probate of Wills Procurations Sequestrations Synodals Licenses to Preach Visitations c. 4. The Archbishops Bishops and Clergy in Convocation in less than Twenty years after this Statute found so little Authority in this 24. Henry 8.12 for keeping Spiritual Courts and exercising Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction it coming in but by way of Parenthesis and not the purport and main design of the Statute that they all acknowledg and confess uno ore and 2. Phil. and Mar. that their Jurisdiction and Liberties Ecclesiastical were taken away
bit and a knock nay when he had above all others dis-arm'd the Phanaticks of their old Weapon that lay ready at hand to make use of and take up by writing Curse ye Moroz for which at least this same Step-mother might at least have made him a Courtesie and thank't him for his great pains no such matter too much envy and Ingratitude reigns amongst a sort of unthinking Black-Coats the Lumber of the Ship of the Church that pester it in a Calm and onely help to sink it in a Storm Nor has he any share in her Government nor never will till they show as good Authority for their Government and Jurisdiction Ecclesiastical as he can for his namely 4 Patents from 4 Kings of England granted with all Royalties Immunities Jurisdictions and Priviledges in the exempt Jurisdiction of the Soken in the County of Essex and the Inheritance of the most Noble Earl Rivers but in no Diocess nor subject to any Archbishop or Bishop and of which Mr. Hickeringill is Commissary lawfully Constituted and he and his Predecessors have been the only Ordinaries from whose Sentence there is no appeal but to the King in Chancery or the King in the greatest Court of Judicature in England or perhaps in the world the House of Lords But for this he has so little cause to thank the Bishops that I believe they would take it from him if they could and by privy whispers and Fictions and Stories do him all the mischief good Catholicks that in them lyes for opposing their Usurpations and Encroachments at least of some of them and for vindicating the ancient Immunities and Royalties of the many-ages enjoy'd Inheritance of that Noble Earl and from Nasauces and Encroachments of greedy Neighbours that think they can never have enough though God knows this Exempt Peculiar is but 3 Parishes a Puinsul almost encompassed with the Sea and is not worth five pounds per Annum to Mr. Hickeringill who values the favour and good will of that Noble Lord in conferring it on him without his seeking or Petition more then twenty times the profit thereof It being usually bestowed as the most Signal mark of favour upon such whom that Noble Family had a mind to Grace But enough of the Pelican Mother or Step-mother and also of the Frontispiece with which trifle I have too much busied my self and the Readers Now for the Title Leges Angliae The Laws of England But by what Title his pittiful Pamphlet can challenge or lay claim to so swelling a Title shall be consider'd only by the Sequel Next his Epistle to the Reader Wherein at first dash he endeavours to preoccupate and prepossess his Readers with an opinion of his Modesty good man he cannot wail nor whip his Adversary That 's pitty And yet he begs pardon that he is such a Doe-little he has not chastiz'd so spightful an Adversary according to his Merits and provocations for he verily wants the Talent and dislikes the Sport As if he should say Time was in his Juvinile years when he was as indeed he was a furious chastizing Paedagogue another Whipping-Tom that took pleasure to lash and slash but those merry days are done that 's happy for Mr. Hickeringill He now verily wants the Talent and dislikes the Sport What a Tarmagant Whipster would this have been if he had taken pleasure and made a sport of whipping men according to their Merits and Provocations But why he should at first step fall down of his knees and beg his Readers pardon for not chastizing Mr. Hickeringill for not being cruel to him for not bringing him to the Whipping-Post I cannot imagine I am sure if he cannot slash and lash and chastize if his Bridewel-Accomplishments have now forsaken his old wither'd Arm he yet retains his Billing sgate Old men can prate however and Scold and so does he He calls Mr. Hickeringill all to naught he calls him Papist in the very next Page I suppose for writing the Naked-Truth and exposing the wickedness of Papists and their Popes in p. 2. of the Naked-Truth nay he makes another Hugh Peters of him and that 's somewhat strange that Hugh Peters should be a Papist and more strange that Mr. Hickeringill should be Hugh Peters and also afterwards he makes a Quaker of Mr. Hickeringill nay p. 6. He calls him both Papist and Hobbist and most unmercifully tears him with Pun and quibble for which a very Barber ought to be kickt saying I thought I had caught a Hobby but war-hawk And a great deal of bad Language this Archdeacon and D. D. does very liberally bestow upon Mr. Hickeringill in almost every page the wonted Attaques of such feeble and effeminate Disputants Well even what he pleases he brings Mr. Hickeringill within two strides of the Gallows saying he takes him to be at Hugh Peter's Game I supose for Preaching on Curse ye Meroz and drolling upon Hugh peter's Sermon and running his wicked race I see there 's no remedy at present against such a Cursing Railer the next now and all that remains is to make Mr. Hickeringill Infidel Pagan Atheist Turk and great Magul and yet this Modest Archdeacon cannot nay has not the Talent to Rail and dislikes the Sport Then lastly he says for Pride Envy wrath Malice Spight and Revenge some say he Mr. Hickeringill is a very Angel of light and somewhat more excellent Bless thy seven Wits dear D. D for thou art the first that has made an Angel of Light old excellent Pride Envy Wrath Malice Spight and Revenge The only modest expression in his Book is the last clause To the Reader where he confesses his unparalel'd shallowness of Conception saying If others can find Truth in the man he cannot So that what has already got a verdict all England over except amongst the Archdeaconry and men Byas'd with Interest its Grace is stopt by a sorry D. D. that confesses his Ignorance and hates the Truth that thwarts his Gourmaudizing would lessen his Paunch animus in Patinis Thus much for his Epistle It 's well it 's no worse The Proem This Proem takes up all the sense and also almost one quarter of doughty Pamphlet Indeed it takes up too much Room And Arbitrary Government of Will. the Conquerers Long Sword and Proclamation is all the Reading he has shown throughout the whole Book citing an old Edict out of Spellman but he conceales the Plagyary and will not loose the Worm-eaten honour of some ambitious Antiquary whilst he quotes the Record and puts us to our Trumps to guess how or when or where he came honestly by it Well much good may it do him when we come to it And first like a Church-man of the old stamp he will permit his Majesty to come into the Church that 's more kindness then old St. Ambrose Bishop of Milan would show sometimes to the great Emperour Theodosius when he did not do as he would have him to do nay This Archdeacon opens the doors himself
Cathedral Church doors of Canterbury and also a Bull of Deprivation upon condition tho' That if John paid the said 4000 Marks the subject of the Quarrel to the Lucan-Merchants within one Month after demand the Pope and Peckham would be as good Friends as ever John Peckham thought of having a fair hearing at the Bar and Advocates and Councel on both sides or perhaps John would have pleaded his own cause to make void the Bond but some are Wiser then other some the Pope knows a trick worth two on 't and without more adoe sends him to the Devil and deprives him of his Archbishoprick except as before excepted In short seeing he had met with his match there was no remedy but the Money must be paid not a Farthing bated of the Principal onely the Pope gave him a Years time instead of the said Month for the payment of so immense a summ Of all which hard Measure Poor John Complains in his Letter to the Pope in these very Words Ecce me creastis quanto creatura a sua naturaliter appetit perfici createre sic in meis oppressionibus censeo per ves recreandum Sane nuper ad me pervenit Cujusdam executionis Litera horribilis in aspectu auditu terribilis quod nisi infra mensem mercatoribus Lucanensibus cum effectu de quatuor millibus in arcarum quae in Romana Curia contraxi extunc sunt excommunicationis sententia innodatus in Ecclesia mea alijs Majoribus pulsatis campanis accensis Candelis excommunicatus denuncior singulis diebus Deminicis festivis Hanc tam graudem solutionem impossibilem sibi futurum rescribit c. A great deal of heavy splutter he had poor man all the dayes of his Life whilest he sat Archbishop what with the Pope on one fide the King on the other and the Augustine Monks of Canterbury who were wonderfull Rich and well worth the shearing and fleecing Chron. VVill. Thron col 1960 1961. and therefore he would have gladly have been at it amongst them with Visitations But they stood upon their guard defy'd him and bid him come at his Peril or dare to meddle with their exempt Churches of Menstre Chistelet Nordborne Middleton and Faversham c. And that they would suffer none to visit them but the Pope and his Legate which Priviledges they contested with him Anno 1293. and maintain'd that they were no other than the Priviledges of their ancient Foundation granted by Augustine the Monk Apostle of England the Popes Apostle and first Archbishop of Canterbury Anno Dom. 600. or thereabouts and confirmed by Pope Boniface Agatho Caelestine Calixt Innocent Vrban Eugenius Lucius Alexander Gregory Innocent Alexander and Honorius But Peckham after a weary life took occasion to dye and there was an end of his Contests his Creator Pope Nicholas departing his busie life a little before him but first calling all his Cardinals into his Bed-chamber Saxoniae l. 8. c. 35. Cent. Magd. 13. c. 10. col 1091. where he lay upon his Death-bed and by the Prerogative of his Power degrades them every man and makes as many Friar-minor's of his own Order Cardinals in their Rooms and charging them upon his Benediction to choose none but Friar-minors into the Papal-Chair for ever Which they performed to their utmost and untill Sextus 4. was Pope there was always a little-Pope lurking among the Fryar-minors and he had his Cardinals and pardon'd Sins I 'le warrant as well as the best Pope of them all only he sold his Indulgences much cheaper and a better Penniworth This mischief hapned An. 19 Ed. 1. and by Peckham's death the King was freed of a Tyger of a Priest that alwayes resisted his Majesty tooth and nayl threatning and vapouring with his Bell Book and Candle But after their death the King took heart as by a memorable Example in our Common-Law Books happening at this time may appear before the Statute of Carlisle against Popes Bulls and Provisions For A Subject of this Realm procured a Bull of Excommunication from the Pope against another Subject and gave notice thereof to the Treasurer of the King for which offence Le Roy voluyt quil ust este tray pendus The King willed he should be drawn and hang'd as a Traytor Here 's an Instance Mr. D. D. as pregnant as your 25 Ed. 1. against the Popes Usurpations But this was no thanks to John Peckham Archbishop of Canterbury and the rest of the Bishops For all resisted all the Clergy and did as much mischief as in them lay But the King and Parliament got the day An. 7. Edw. 1. and made John Peckham the Archbishop Recant his dissolute Canons made in the Convocation at Rading in these words Memorandum quod venerabilis Pater Johannes Cantuarensis Archiepiscopus venit coram Rege Concilio suo in Parliamento Regis sancti Michaelis Claus 7 Edw. 1. m. 1. dorso Revocationes Provisionum Concilii Rading anno Regni Regis septimo apud Westm consitebatur concessit quod de Statutis Provisionibus Declarationibus eorundem quae per ipsum promulgatae fuerunt apud Rading mense Augusti Anno eodem inter quasdam sententias Excommunicationis quas idem Archiepiscopus ibid promulgabat Primò deleatur pro non pronunciata habeatur illa clausula in prima sententiâ Excommunicationis quae facit mentionem de Impetrantibus literas Reglas ad Impediendum Processum in causis quae per sacros Canones ad forum Eoclesiasticum pertinere noscuntur Secundò quòd non Excommunicente Ministri Regis licet ipsi non pareant Mandato Regis in non capiendo Excommtnicatos Tertiò de illis qui invadunt Maneria Clericorum ut ibi sufficiat Paena per Regem posita Quarto quod non Interdicat vendere victualia Eboracensi Archâ—episcopo vel alii venienti ad Regem Quintò quod tollatur Magna Charta de foribus Ecclesiarum Consitetur etiam concessit quod nec Regi nec Haeredibus suis nec Regno suo Angliae ratione aliorum Articulorum in Concilio Rading Contentorum nullum prejudicium generetur in futurum In English thus Be it remembred that the Reverend Father John Archbishop of Canterbury came before the King and the King 's great Council of Parliament in Michaelmas Term at Westminster in the seventh Year of his Reign and confest and acknowledged that of the Laws Provisions and Declarations which were by him Promulgated at Rading in the Month of August last past amongst other Sentences of Excommunication which the said Archbishop did there pronounce First Let that clause in the first Sentence of Excommunication pronounced against all those that obtain the Kings Prohibition to hinder Process in Ecclesiastical Courts of such Causes as are known to appertain to Ecclesiastical Cognizance and Jurisdiction be made null and void and stand for nothing as if it had never been made as also Secondly That the Kings Ministers of Justice
these Words On a Rock consisting of these Sands stands our mighty Champion triumphing with his Naked Truth c. And truly if our mighty Champion stand thus Triumphing upon a Rock made of Sands It is the first Rock made of Sands that ever was seen in the World before I have seen great hills of Sands but never a Rock consisting of Sands before for lively and natural expressions and tough and sinewy Arguments 't is the very None-such of the D. D Come confess ingeniously Is there not more and better Heads then your own in this Elaborate Work Is it not the Six Months labour of a Prelatical Smectimnuus or Club-Divines Now for his Rancounter CHAP. II. Wherein very Majesterially he asserts contradictorily In defiance of the said Propositions and Rocks of Sand That Our Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction in England was not derived from the Pope but from the Crown before the Reformation by Hen. 8. Sed quomodo probas Domine D. D First by begging the Question Petitione Printipij And asking sternly and demanding in 8 bold Questions first Dare any Protestant stand to the contrary c. So that he has got Mr. Hickeringill upon the Lock and upon the Hugg the Devonshire and Cornish Hugg Hang or Drown'd there 's no escaping yield or confess your self a Papist concluding that to say so is not more like a Hobbist than a Papist I thought I had caught a Hobby but War-Hawk To which I 'le onely say that as Seneca in his Epistles to his dear Lucillus speaking of Harpast his Wives Fool a poor ridiculous creature That if he had a desire to laugh at a Fool he need not seek far for he could find cause enough at home to laugh at himself so you Mr. quibling Archdeacon need not be at charge to keep a Jester you may find one ridiculous enough within the Corps of your own Archdeaconry Hobby-War-hawk But then he falls and grows calm and leaves this bold Italian way of Regginâ—… and comes to his proofs First Then our Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction was not derived from the Pope but from the Crown before H. 8. because it was a known Law 25. Edw. 1. and 25. Edw. 3. long before Hen. 8. that the Church of England was founded in Episcopacy by our Kings c. and not in the Papacy 1. I always thought till now that our Church of England I know not for his Church of England was neither founded upon Episcopacy not the Papacy but on Christ the Rock of Ages 2. The Popish Episcopacy in the said two King Edwards time and the Papacy were one and the same piece the Pope the Head they the Members and derivative from him influenc'd by him and would never obey our Kings further then they list as appears by stout Robert Archbishop of Canterbury another Becket And though the Kings made bold to recommend an Archbishop or a Bishop to the Pope yet the Pope Invested and chose whom he list the greater Usurper he but who did or could help it till stout King H. 8. did behead the Pope and made himself by Parliament Head of the Church 'T is true Rome was not built in a day and neither did nor could extend its Suburbs and Commands as far as England till William the Conquerour the Pope's Champion and who fought under the Popes Banner which he sent him for the Invasion of England did with his French and Normans and all Gatherings bring with his French and Italian Troops the French and Italian Laws and the French Mode of Ecclesiastical Polity and Jurisdiction And therefore 't is rightly noted that 'till Will. the Conquerour there was no Bishops Courts or Ecclesiastical Courts but the Hundred-Courts the onely Courts of Justice in England in all Causes Ecclesiastical and Temporal But the Pope made his Champion Will. the Conquerour and all succeeding Kings after him till H 8. set up such Ecclesiastical Courts and Jurisdiction as were at Rome wherein they Judged and proceeded according to the Popes Canon-Laws and he himself was the Head and Supream of those Courts and nothing more frequent then Appeals to Rome till the 24. Hâ—n 8.12 ordain'd that there should be no Appeals thither where he had emptied so much of his purse and yet could not obtain a Divorce to his liking if appeals to Rome from our Ecclesiastical-Courts then they were onely Romes Inferior Courts And was there ever any Statute made from Will. the Conquerour or rather Hen. 3. to Hen. 8. but by the consent of the Popish Clergy that is to say the consent of the Pope their Head whose Laws they obey'd in defiance of their Leige-Lords and Soveraign Kings I know there was old Tugging frequently betwixt our Kings and the Popes and sometimes the staring people cryed Now the Pope then in hopes Now the King has got is but if any stout King did as they did try for Mastery with this Whore and who should wear the Britches yet Pope Joan or Pope John or howsoever nam'd always got the better at long run Of which I will Instance in some few particulars that first occur and come to mind for I scorn to spend so many days as this D. D. with his Smec-conjoyn'd has been Months in Labour for the production of his Ridiculus mus Robert Kildwardby Archbishop of Canterbury 6. Edw. 1. Fleec't the whole Province of Canterbury namely the greatest part of the Kingdom of England by his Provincial-Visitation not by down-right plundering of the Clergy Church-wardens and the poor and rich Sinners he knew a way worth two on 't the other had been the ready way to be hang'd for Edward 1. was neither Bigot Antiq. Brit. Ec. p. 196. Fook nor Coward for He saith Mat. Parker being the Popes Creature went a visiting as some do now a days without any Commission from the King no strange thing in those days more strange in our days now that they have not as formerly a Pope to back them and whose Creatures they were in despight of the King But this crafty Robert Kildwardby play'd the Fox in his Visitation and Se donis saith the Historian non imperitando sed artificiose ut fratres sui ordinis solebant suadendo locupletavit that is He enrich'd himself and fill'd his pockets but how not by an open violent way of force and command but craftily with sleight of Hand and Tongue as the Brethren of his Order are wont to do pick'd their pockets with a parccl of fair words Why that 's better yet then the Hectoring way Come Clergy-man deliver your Purse your Purse for Procurations Visitations c. The Naked-Truth on 't was the Pope Nicholas 3d. had a Cardinals Capp at Robert's service if he would come up to the price on 't and bid like a Chapman but all the craft lay in the catching the Money to day the purchase Whereupon Kildwardby does not go in the old Road of Procurations Synodals and Vilitations that even in those times were not onely grumbled at by the Slaves
humble Servant when where and in what he list For presently after he brings that of Isa 10.1 to vanquish the King and Parliament that made him Recant his own Canons two years before Isa 10.1 Dicente Domino per Prophetam Vae qui condunt Leges iniquas c. Wo unto them that Decree unrighteous Decrees c. meaning the Statutes made by the King and Parliament for so he goes on quia igitur ab antiquo tempore inter Leges Magnates Angliae ex parte unâ Archiepiscopos Episcopos Clerum ejusdem Regniex altera duravit amara dissensio pro oppressione Ecclesiae contrà Decreta summorum Pontisicum contra Statuta Conciliorum contra Sanctiones Orthodoxorum Patrum in quibus tribus summa auctoritas summa veritas summaque sanctitas consistunt supplicamus Regiae Majestati c. huic periculosae dissentioni dignemur finem apponere salutarem cui finis alitèr imponi non potest nisi vos sublimitatem vestram praedictis tribus scilicèt Decretis Pontificum Statutis Conciliòrum Sanctionibus Orthodoxorum Patrum juxtà Domini beneplacitum cùm Catholicis Imperatoribus dignemini inclinare ex his enim tribus sunt Canones aggregati jura Coronae vestrae Christi Coronae supponenda cujus sunt Diadema Sponsae suae monilia universae Ecclesiasticae Libertates All which are most emphatical words and most apt for our purpose to stop the Arch-deacon's Mouth that would have the present Church of England and its Jurisdiction derivative from Edw. 1. and Edw. 3. Nor do I know any man more able in all History to write all that could be said for Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction Canon-Law or Civil-Law than the said Peckham nor can any thing better represent the posture of Affairs in England as to Ecclesiastical matters than the said Letter which I will English faithfully as followeth Because quoth the Archbishop there has been of old and long has continued a bitter Dissention betwixt the King and Parliament of England on the one part God grant they may alwayes be so as they ought to be but one part and the Archbishops Bishops and Clergy of this Realm on the other part to oppress the Church contrary to the Popes Decrees contrary to the Canons of Councils contrary to the Sanctions of the Orthodox Fathers in which three consists the Supream Authority the greatest Verity and the choycest Piety We intreat your Royal Majesty that we should vouchsafe together to put an end to this dangerous Dissention and Differences which can never be concluded except you will please to submit your highness to the said three things namely the Decrees of Popes the Canons of the Synods and the Opinions of the ancient Orthodox Fathers according to the Command of the Lord and after the Example of Catholick Kings For of these three are the Canons made and the Rights of your Crown must submit to the Crown of Christ the Churches Rights and Liberties being the Diadem of Christ and the Ornament and Jewels of his Spouse c. Whence I make these plain Remarks 1. That as the Devil Tempting our Blessed Saviour accosted him with Holy Scripture in his Mouth so does this filthy Symonist talk Scripture Language to the King and Parliament whilst he himself hated to be Reformed 2. That there was and has been an old Feud Difference and Dissention and cannot possibly be otherwise where the Layety are Governed by one Law and the Clergy by another the Layety a distinct and peculiar Party on the one part and the Clergy with other designs a party in Opposition to the Layety on the other part The Devil and the Pope brought in that distinction of Layety and Clergy not God and Scripture and it was never a quiet World in Christendome since that time of making that distinction which God never made 3. That when the King and Parliament Thwarts the Clergy and the Canons of their own devising and made to gratifie as those of Rading aforesaid only their Avarice Ambition and Revenge yet that is called Oppressing the Church of God 4. That Kings must alwayes under the notion of submitting to God and Christ submit their Scepters Crowns and Dignities to Religious Zealots and Bigots when they get the Power and they 'l have it too or they 'l want of their will 5. That the Clergy Archbishops and Bishops accounted themselves and were taken and accepted for the Church of England 6. That the Pope was Head of this Church his Decrees their Rule and Canons to walk by and carry on their Ecclesiastical-Courts and Jurisdiction 7. That their Laws were contrary to the sence of the King and Parliament 8. That the King and Parliament were sometimes though but a little little time too hard for those Archbishops Bishops and Clergy of whom the Pope was Supream head 9. That it is impossible that our present Archbishops Bishops and Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction can derive their Authority for Ecclesiastical Courts from the Popish Arch-bishops Popish Canons Popish Bishops that had the Pope for their head since our Clergy Archbishops and Bishops do renounce the Popes Supremacy 10. That the Ecclesiasticals before Hen. 8. whilst the Pope was their head look't upon the Kings of England as their Inferiours and that the King and Parliaments Sentiments and Decrees should truckle to theirs And if some had not some strange Reliques they would not dare as this Archdeacon does to write and defend a Jurisdiction and Courts in England without special Authority and Commission from the King And for him to say They Keep Courts by Common-law is the idlest of all his dreams 1. Because before Will. the Conqueror there was never any Spiritual Courts Kept distinct from the Hundred-Courts and if they have right to keep them there at the Bayliffs house let them come but instead of Chancellours Surrogates and Officials and Archdeacons must sit for Judges there as now and of Old two honest Freeholders let them come then with their Ecclesiastical Courts founded in the Common-law before William the Conquerour 2. The Common-Law this D. D. calls p. 51. long and granted Use in the whole Land but then if they plead for their Ecclesiastical Courts according to ancient use and custome they must keep them in Places Times and by such Laws and Judges as were of the ancient use and custom 3. The Common-Law of England is ancienter than our Christianity but Bishops as now in England much less Archbishops for Austin the Monk sent hither by the Pope was the first Archbishop and much less Archdeacons are the Inventions of men and the favour of Kings at first of Popish Kings for before Austin the Monk Anno Dom 〈◊〉 England had neither Lord Bishops nor Lord Archbishops after the manner they are now therefore neither they nor their Courts as now kept have any foundation in Common-law 4. By his own shewing that Edict of William the Conquerour enjoyns that no Bishop nor Archdeacon hold Pleas any longer in
Hundret nor bring any Ecclesiastical cause to the Judgment of Secular men Therefore William the Conquerour the Popes Champion brought with him this new distinction of Clergy and Layty and Ecclesiastical Judges and Secular Judges for it seems Ecclesiastical Causes as well as Secular were brought in the Hundret Court to the Judgment of Secular men not Ecclesiastical men 5. The said Proclamation ordains every man to do right to God and the Bishop not according to the Hundred but according to the Canons and Episcopal Laws Which answers the greatest Stress of the D. D. Answer The Conquerour with the Pope brought in the Canons and Episcopal Laws and when the Pope's head was cut off and his Supremacy taken away vanish also did his Canons and Episcopal Laws And the Popish King and Parliament in Hen. 8. time knew it as well and therefore when they had made the King Head of the Church as well as State a fatal distinction of Church and State and often makes a Kingdom divided against its self cutting off all Appeals to Rome 24 H. 12. in the very next year they found a necessity to abrogate all Popish Canons that were contrariant to the Kings Prerogative and the Laws and Statutes of this Realm but such as were not so contrariant and repugnant to remain in force And to that purpose there was to be a Book of such Canons compiled by thirty two Commissioners party per pale one moyety Clergy and the other Lay but they did nothing and so that project in the Statute came to nothing And for my part in the Knowledge I have in the ancient Councils and Canon's in the making whereof the Pope had the great hand they might as well seek a needle in a bottle of Hay as seek for Canons amongst the old ones suitable to the new face of our Church when it had lost its old wonted head that had Authorized and Father'd the English Church and all Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction from William the Conquerour till 24 Henry 8. which was 467 long years and during the weary Reigns of twenty Kings together who were so tyred with the Pope's Insolence that some of them as King John meditated rather to turn Turk than undergo the Infamy as well as Tyranny and Cruelty in being all his Reign so shamefully Priest-ridden complaining and bemoaning himself that after he subjugated himself and his Scepter to the Pope of Rome nothing prosper'd that he undertook ever after Therefore hard is the fate of that Man much more of that King and Kingdom that are under the Tyranny of these Bigots How do they wrest the holy Scriptures to surrogate their preposterous Hierarchy as did the said Popham Archbishop in his said Letter to the King Edw. 1. aforementioned quoting Mat. 16.19 Whatsoe're thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in Heaven and threatning the King with death from Deut. 17.12 And the man that shall do presumptuously and will not hearken unto the Priest that standeth to minister there before the Lord thy God or unto the Judge even that man shall dye Then he threatens the King with Deut. 17.18 19 20. and with Luk. 10.16 He that heareth you heareth me and he that despiseth you despiseth me And he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me which saith the Archbishop St. Dyonisius expounds Ierarchis in his quae agant Ierarchicè obediendum est sicut a Deo motis To the Hierarchy or Prelates in what they act as Prelates we ought to obey them as those that are influenc't by God himself Then he quotes Deut. 17.8 9 10 11. and Heb. 4. and Mat. 17.5 Mat. 28.20 Acts 3.22 Mat. 18.19 20. Mat. 18.17 Mat. 10.20 as Impertinent as tedious to insist upon concluding his Letter in a menacing way from Lambeth November Anno Dommi 1281. and the third year of his Translation Instancing also for his Platform and imitation in this his contumacy the example of Thomas Becket and Boniface his Predecessors as fierce and Seditious as himself But wise King Edw. 1. like his Grandfather Hen. 2. and his Father Hen. 3. would not so easily part with the Reins of Government for he disanulled not only the Rading-Canons as aforesaid but also the Lambeth-Canons Anno 1281. Even as his Grandfather Hen. 2. abrogated all the Canon Law being then Duke of Normandy and particularly the Canons of the late Councel of Rhemes And by Proclamation forbidding Hugo Archbishop of Roan to put the same in Execution and threatning Pope Innocent 2. that if he would not restrain the said Archbishop therein he would turn Protestant so I translate the words of the Kings letter to Pope Innocent Minatus est Apertè divortium ab Apostolicâ sede nisi praesumptio illius Archiepiscopi reprimeretur Which so frighted the Pope that he was glad to knock under and yield to the time foreseeing a Storm approaching he very wisely made fair weather on 't to use his own words Quod prefectò quamvis Justum fuerit Mat. Paris Hist Aug. p. 96 97. à nobis in Concilio Rhemensi mandatum pro ejus tamen charitate aliquando condescendere quando non ascendere possumus debemus et pro tempore ipsius voluntati assensum praebere That is saith the Pope What was done in the Councel of Rhemes was nothing but what was Just and right and also by us Commanded nevertheless for charity sake we must be lowly and condescend then when we cannot climb and ascend and be uppermost and for the present give our assent and consent to the Kings will and pleasure And there had been a fatal divorce or beginning of Protestanism from Rome by another Henry Hen. 2. long before Hen. 8. if Pope Innocent had been as stiff and inflexible as was Pope Clement to Hen. 8. So that all along those that please to observe our Statutes Histories and Chronicles they will find that ever since our Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction was brought from France and Rome by William the Conquerour sometimes the Church-men and their head the Pope had the weather-gage and sometimes the Kings as they hapned to be some more prudent some more weak some more potent and some in greater straits than other of which last condition namely when our Kings affairs were in a Peck of troubles and distresses the Pope and his Janizaries the Popish Prelates alwaies wrought upon their necessities and most unmanly would never give them fair quarter when they had them down None so cruel as Women and cowardly Gownmen when they get men at advantage many Instances whereof you may see in the reigns of King John the King Henries and the King Edwards c. So that now Canon-Law now Statute-Law now the Church and now the State now the Lord Arch-bishops and Lord Bishops and now the Lords temporal and the Common's had the upper-hand but the Bishops carryed it for the most part and alwaies at long run whilest they had the Pope or the High-Commission on their side And even since they